Cost

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Start to Finish

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Introduction

Purchase the Trees

There are about 200 varieties of peach trees readily available in the marketplace. Check with your local nursery to find out which varieties are best suited to your particular area. Consider planting peach trees with different harvest times to extend the season. Popular varieties include Jefferson, Red Globe and Belle of Georgia.

Step 1

Preparing Your Soil

Before planting your peach trees, be sure to amend the soil. Add a 3 inch thick layer of soil conditioner, preferably one made up of ground pine bark.

Prepare the Site

Peaches do best with at least six to eight hours of full sun a day. They also require well-drained sandy soil, so work a thick layer of organic soil conditioner into the top 18" of the planting site.

Step 2

Settling Your Peaches

When you place your tree in its hole, be sure that the root flare, or the point where the roots begin to spread out from the trunk , is just above the soil line.

Preparing Your Plants

When planting bare root trees, be sure to shake off any packaging material that is still clinging to the roots. Let the roots soak in a bucket of water while digging the hole.

Warering Your Peaches

Begin refilling your holes. When holes are about three quarters full, add water and let it settle around the roots. Once the water has dissipated, finish filling the holes and water your plant again.

Plant the Trees

Many peaches are sold as bare-root trees. Shake off any material clinging to the roots and soak the roots in a bucket of water for an hour or two before planting (Image 1). Dig a hole the same depth as the roots and at least as wide as the roots when fanned out. Place the tree in the hole and fan out the roots (Image 2). Position the point of the trunk where the roots begin to spread out just above the soil line. Backfill with soil until the hole is three-quarters full. Water well to settle the soil (Image 3). Finish filling the hole and water again. Add mulch around the trees.

Step 3

Cutting Your Tree

After planting a typical two year peach tree, one of the first things you should do is make a very hard cut on the tree. This determines the point where the branches will start to sprout as the tree grows. Once you have done this, remove all the side shoots to force buds blow the initial cut to produce scaffolds.

Prune the Tree

After planting a typical two-year-old peach tree, it is necessary to make a very hard cut on the tree. Cut the tree to about hip height. This may seem drastic, but this sets the location where the main branches will develop. At this time, also remove any side shoots along the trunk to force buds below the cut to produce branches.

Step 4

Cultivating Your Peaches

As your peaches grow, they require at lest 2" of water per week and require more when it comes time to harvest. Apply 10-10-10 fertilizer around the base of your trees to help them grow healthy. Then, remove any any suckers and watersprouts that grow on the branches. This allows more nutrients to get to the fruit, and it also allows more sunlight to get through the canopy of the trees to the peaches.

Water, Feed and Cultivate

Peach trees require approximately 2"of water per week during the early growing season, more leading up to harvest. Amounts and timing of fertilizer vary per soil and site, but a typical schedule is two or three times a year. Apply 10-10-10 fertilizer around the base of the tree, right below the outermost branches. Prune any suckers that sprout from the base of the tree and any watersprouts that shoot up from branches.

Step 5

Thin the Fruit

For the first two years, all immature fruit should be thinned from the tree. This allows the tree to focus its energy on producing healthy leaves, branches and roots. Starting in year three and thereafter, immature fruits should be thinned so that no two peaches are closer than 6" to 8" apart. This creates plump, full-size fruit.

Step 6

How to Tell if a Peach is Ripe

Most peaches ripen in early summer, but to be sure whether or not your peaches are ripe, focus on the background color rather than the red overblush. The red color does not indicate ripeness, but, instead, indicates the amount of sun the fruit has been getting.

Harvest the Peaches

Most peaches ripen in midsummer. It's best to harvest peaches in the early morning or in the late afternoon when temperatures are cooler. To determine whether peaches are ripe, focus on the background color rather than the red. When the background color turns from green to yellow, the peach is ripe. Ripe fruit also yields to gentle pressure.